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We've compiled the best of the best in Big Bend National Park - browse our top choices for the top things to see or do during your stay.
On the first Saturday of November, top chefs spice up cooling weather with chili cooking, bragging, and partying at this spicy chili cook-off held behind the Terlingua Store in Terlingua ghost town. Some of the prize-winning cooks dole out samples. And this is Texas, pardner: no beans allowed.
Every February, generally toward the end of the month, ranchers and cowboys congregate for three days at Sul Ross State University to regale audiences with original poetry and washtub-bass tributes to singers like Bob Wills. The idea is to preserve the traditions of the West in words and song.
This West Texas showcase of Lone Star music features rock, blues, country, Latin, and beyond, on stages in Alpine, Fort Davis, Marathon, Lajitas, and Marfa, both in large paid-admission venues and free concerts on hotel patios.
This 0.3-mile round-trip paved nature trail is wheelchair-accessible and also great for little ones. Take in the beautiful, craggy-sided Chisos and look through the V-shape rock-sided "Window" framing the desert below (you can hike to this very point via the quite rewarding, moderately difficult 5.6-mile round-trip Window Trail, which is accessed from the same trailhead). This self-guided trail, which is especially captivating at sunset, is easily accomplished in 20 minutes. Be on the lookout for wild javelina, which occasionally root through here. They're not normally aggressive, but give them a respectful distance. The trail is closed due to construction until mid-2027. Easy.
Affiliated with Big Bend Ranch State Park of Texas, this visitor center offers a self-guided walking tour through a 2½-acre landscaped desert garden. It's a good way to get acquainted with the Trans-Pecos region before adventuring to either the national or state park. Also on the grounds are an interpretive center, a covered picnic area, a bookstore, and a gift shop.
The 23-acre site in Presidio County contains a thick-walled adobe fort and trading post that dates back to pioneer days. There are exhibits, a ½-mile nature trail, picnic sites, guided tours, and a store. The park is day-use only. The fort also doubles as the western visitor center for Big Bend Ranch State Park.
